So in our Bibles, again, to 1
Corinthians 15, I've entitled the message, The Gospel. Paul says in verse 1, Moreover,
brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto
you, which also you have received, and wherein ye stand, by which
also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto
you, unless ye have believed in vain. Now, one thing I can
assure you, you will not hear anything new from me this morning.
As God enables me, you're going to hear the same gospel that
many of you have heard preached for many, many years. This is
the gospel that you've taken a stand for in this community. This is the gospel of your salvation. This is the gospel that you'll
continue to believe. unless you believed in vain,
as Paul says here. And I declare unto you, along
with our brother, the apostle Paul, I declare unto you the
gospel. Roy, there's just one gospel.
The gospel. There are many messages that
men preach, but there's only one gospel. All those other messages,
those so-called gospels, are lies. And I'll show you that
in Galatians chapter one. Galatians chapter 1 verse 6. Paul says, I marvel that you
are so soon removed from him that calls you into the grace
of Christ unto another gospel, which is not another. There's
not another gospel because there's just one gospel. But there be
some that trouble you and would pervert the gospel of Christ.
But though we are an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel
unto than that which we have preached unto you, let him be
accursed. As we said before, so say I now
again, if any man preach any other gospel unto you than that
he hath received, let him be accursed." It's so serious that
we preach the gospel. Paul says, let us be damned if
we preach a false gospel. That's how serious this matter
is. And Paul calls another gospel a perversion. It's a perversion. And some of those perversions
are very easy to spot. Some of them aren't so easy to
spot at first. And I can tell you why they're
more difficult to see at first. Because many times what they
do is they take a truth of scripture and they stretch it until it
no longer resembles the truth. I used the illustration at Willsburg
a few weeks ago by Stretch Armstrong. Some of you about my age remember
Stretch Armstrong. You could stretch that fellow
out and he didn't resemble himself anymore. And you let him go and
he comes back and looks like himself. That's what they do
with a truth. They just take one truth of scripture
and they stretch it until it no longer resembles the truth.
They stress one point of truth at the expense of other points
of truth. And I'll give you a couple of examples. The Armenians. takes the truth of scripture.
Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, I'll give
you rest. Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall
be saved." Now that's truth. That's the truth of God's word.
Yet they stress that truth at the expense of the truth of God's
sovereign electing love. And they stretch it and they
stress it so much that they'd have you believe The salvation
is dependent upon you making a decision for Jesus instead
of the sovereign God, saving whom He will. They would have
you believe that Christ died for everyone instead of all those
that the Father gave to the Son in the covenant of grace. Now
the hard shell goes to the opposite extreme. They say when all God's
elect are going to be saved. That's true. You can bank on
that. All those that God's elect are
going to be saved, we're electing Christ and he shall not fail
nor be discouraged. But they stress that truth so
much that they would make void the necessity of the preaching
of the gospel. They stress that truth to the
extent that they make void the need for repentance and faith.
There are others in our day, maybe it's always been this way,
I don't know, but they stress the work of the Father. above
the work of the Son and the Holy Spirit. Or maybe they stress
the work of the Son over the Father and the Holy Spirit, or
they stress the work of the Spirit at the expense of the Father
and the Son. That's not the gospel. You can't do without one of the
Trinity, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. And none of those messages
are the gospel. None of them are. And I know
that's true because none of those other so-called gospels are according
to the Scriptures. There's only one gospel. And
God in his word does not leave us guessing, well, what's the
gospel, what's not the gospel? Paul tells us in these verses
here in 1 Corinthians chapter 15. And right off the bat, we
see this, the gospel is a declaration. The gospel is not an offer. The
gospel is a declaration of God. Moreover, brethren, I declare
unto you the gospel. And then Paul defines for us
here, what's the gospel? Well, first he says in verse
three, I delivered unto you, first of all, that which I also
received. My first point, the gospel of
God, the gospel is the gospel of God. Paul said, I declare
unto you that which I received. Where did you receive it from,
Paul? From God. That's who he received it from.
It's the gospel of God. Paul told the Romans in Romans
1 that the gospel of God is the gospel of God that concerns his
son, Jesus Christ, our Lord. Now, the gospel, it's the gospel
of God, and it must be revealed. If God doesn't reveal it to us,
we will never see it. The light shone in darkness,
and the darkness comprehended it not. It must be revealed to
us. And by God's grace, in this place,
God's given us the gospel. He's given it to us. He's revealed
it to us. Then brethren, we must preach
the gospel. God's given it to us. He's entrusted
it to us. It's the gospel of God. We don't
have the option to change it. We don't have the option to take
the edge off of it. We don't have the option to keep
quiet about it. It's the gospel of God that He's entrusted to
us and we must declare it. It's the gospel of God. Second,
the gospel sets forth the death of Christ. Paul says in verse
3, I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received,
how that Christ died. Now everyone says Jesus of Nazareth
died on a cross. Everybody says that. But that
don't mean they're preaching the gospel. Most people when
they say that are just stating a historical fact that about
2,000 years ago a man named Jesus died on a middle cross. That's
all they're stating is a historical fact. Just because they say Jesus
died does not mean they're preaching the gospel. If we're going to
preach the gospel, we must answer these three questions about the
death of Christ. If we're going to declare how
Christ died, we have to answer, first of all, why did Christ
die? Second of all, how did Christ
die? And third, what did Christ accomplish
in his death? Well, why did Christ die? Was
He making an offering to men to see how many people would
accept Him? Or was He making an offering to God? Well, what
does Scripture say? Scripture says Christ died because
He was made to be sin for His people. And He died paying that
sin debt to His Father. It was an offering to the Father,
the blood before the Lord. It was an offering to His Father
to pay for the sins of His people. That's why He died. Second, how
did Christ die? Well, it's not just that he died,
you know, he shed all of his blood, he bled out, or he finally
gave up the ghost. Christ died a cursed death. Cursed
is everyone that hangeth upon a tree. Christ died bearing the
curse of the sins of his people. He died a cursed death. And third,
what did Christ accomplish in his death? Did Christ make salvation
possible for everyone who someday would decide to receive him?
What does Scripture say? That's not what Scripture says.
Scripture says He obtained eternal redemption for us, for His people. He obtained their eternal redemption.
The Gospel sets forth the death of Christ. Third, the Gospel
declares Christ died for sinners. See there in verse 3, Paul says,
I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received,
how that Christ died for our sins. Christ died for sins, not
his sins. He had no sin of his own. He
died for our sin, the sin of his elect. The gospel declares
that Christ died for sinners. Now you might think, well, Frank,
everybody's a sinner. Then aren't you saying Christ
died for everyone? No, I'm not. Christ died for sinners. Go find
one. Go ask people, are you a sinner?
You get the answer. Most usually you get the same
answer as Saul told David. And David appeared out there
at the cave and he didn't kill Saul. He cut off Saul's skirt.
Saul said, David, you're more righteous than I. You know, I'm
not perfect, but I'm better than most people. I'm not as good
as you, but I'm better than most people. That's not a sinner.
A sinner believes total depravity. Now, let me explain what I mean
by that. A sinner believes total depravity. From the time I have
understood language, I have been a five-point Calvinist. I mean
a strong Calvinist. I have always believed in total
depravity. But what that meant was everybody
else out there is totally depraved. One day, God showed me I'm totally
depraved. Now I believe in total depravity
because I am totally, completely depraved. There's not a speck
of holiness in my flesh. Totally depraved. And what I
deserve is the wrath of God. That's a sinner. And my question
this morning is not what you think about everybody else out
there, or even other people in this room. What I'm asking you,
you answer this question in your heart. Are you a sinner? That's
the question. Are you a sinner? If you are,
God made you so, you come to Christ. The gospel declares Christ
is the savior of sinners. He put away every sin that was
charged to his account under his precious blood. And God's
not angry anymore because that sin that made him angry has been
put away through the sacrifice of his son. God's not angry anymore. He's reconciled himself to his
people. Now you be reconciled to God. You come to Christ. He's
the savior of sinners. So the gospel is the gospel of
God. The gospel sets forth the death
of Christ and the gospel declares Christ died for sinners. The
gospel is good news for sinners. And fourth, and this is where
I want to spend a few minutes. The gospel, the message of the
gospel is the message of the whole Bible. It's according to
the scriptures. That's what Paul says, how that
Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures. And the only
scriptures that he could be talking about here is the Old Testament
scriptures. They're the only scriptures that were in existence.
while Paul and these other men were writing the New Testament.
He died for our sins according to the Old Testament scriptures.
The gospel, the gospel which we have received, the gospel
that we preach, did not begin with us. The gospel did not begin
in 1950-whatever when Ralph Barner came asking. The gospel didn't
begin then. That might be the first time some people heard
it, but that's not when the gospel began. The gospel didn't begin
with the Reformers. The gospel didn't begin with
Martin Luther. The gospel didn't begin with the prophets. The
gospel began in eternity past. The gospel began with God and
it was preached to men throughout all the Old Testament scriptures.
Well, how do the scriptures declare Christ died? I'm glad you asked. I got a few points. First of
all, look at Genesis chapter three. Christ died as a covering. for the sin of his people. When
Adam fell, God came to that garden and pronounced judgment on sin. He pronounced judgment on that
serpent. He pronounced judgment on the woman. He pronounced judgment
on Adam. He pronounced judgment on the creation, on the ground.
He said, cursed is the ground for your sake. He pronounced
judgment on everything. But he didn't end there. He didn't
pronounce judgment on everything and turn around and go back to
glory. He didn't end there. Look in chapter 3, verse 21.
Unto Adam also and his wife did the Lord God make coats of skin,
and he clothed them. The first blood that was ever
shed on this earth was shed to kill an animal, to cover man's
nakedness that was revealed in his sin." Adam and Eve were always
naked. They just didn't know it. They
weren't ashamed of it. But when Adam sinned, they were
ashamed, and they had to be covered. Try to imagine for a moment.
the horror we would feel if suddenly we were naked in front of this
group of people. We'd be panicked, scrambling
around trying to find a covering to cover it. We'd be so ashamed,
so embarrassed. How much more should we be desperate
to find a covering that would cover us in front of the all-seeing
eye of God Scripture says all things are naked and open under
the eyes of Him with whom we have to do. There's no getting
around it. How is it possible that we could
be covered in front of the all-seeing eye of God? Well, I can tell
you this. Our fig leaves won't do. Our
works of righteousness won't cover us any better than those
fig leaves covered Adam and Eve. God had to cover them, didn't
He? God killed an animal and covered him. And that how Christ
died, according to the scriptures. God sent his son into this world
to die to provide a covering for his people. And the righteousness
of Christ, as Brother Scott has taught us, is not a pasted on
righteousness. It's not just this veneer of
righteousness that we put on over top of our unrighteousness,
which is still there, you just can't see it. No. Christ's righteousness
covers us through and through and makes his people righteous. Now, is anyone here this morning
naked, without a righteousness? Then you come to Christ. He died
as a covering that will cover his people from the all-seeing
eye of the Father. When he sees me, he sees the
blood of the Lamb. He sees me as worthy and not
as I am, because Christ died as a covering for his people. The scriptures declare that Christ
died as the only sacrifice that God will accept. Cross the page
here in Genesis 4, verse 3. In the process of time it came
to pass that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering
unto the Lord, and Abel he also brought of the firstlings of
his flock, and of the fat thereof. And the Lord had respect unto
Abel and to his offering, but unto Cain and to his offering
he had not respect. And Cain was very wroth, and
his countenance fell. And the Lord said unto Cain,
Why art thou wroth, and why is thy countenance fallen? If thou
doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? And if thou doest not
well, sin lieth at the door." Cain brought his works as a sacrifice
to God. Now, I'm confident of this. Cain
brought the best fruits from his field. I mean, he didn't
bring any partially ripe fruits. He didn't bring any overly ripe
fruits or bruised ones. They were perfect. I mean, they
were the best in his field. They were the perfect color,
the perfect shape, the perfect texture. Ripe and just exactly
right. They were perfect looking. The
best he could produce. The problem was those fruits
and vegetables sprang from the cursed ground. God cursed that
ground. Told Adam, thorns and thistles
shall bring forth to you. Well, God's not going to accept
the fruit. that came from a cursed ground, is he? No, we can't do
that. Cain brought those fruits and
vegetables. And that's a picture of our works.
God will never accept our works as a sacrifice and atonement
for our sins. People do kind things. Honestly,
they really do. They do kind things. A couple
of weeks ago, we were in Lexington. Jant was at Wal-Mart behind this
man. He had a package of batteries.
That's all he had. He gets up to the register. He
lays that package of batteries down and starts telling this
long story. Jant thought, oh man, I caught the wrong one. He starts telling this story.
She hadn't listened to it. She was there. He says, a couple
weeks ago I was here, and I bought two or three packs of batteries.
But you didn't charge me for all of them. Maybe he bought
two, but you only charged me for one. He said, that's stealing. That's
what that is. He said, so now I'm buying one.
You charge me for two. That's pretty honest, isn't it?
That's what he ought to have done. That's honest. Then he
said, that package of batteries is not worth my salvation. Bless
his heart. Bless his heart. God will never
accept our works as a sacrifice for our sin. Why? That was an
honest thing he did. It sprang from a cursed nature. God will never accept it. Cain
brought the fruits of his works and he was rejected. Abel brought
lamb. God had respect unto Abel and
his sacrifice because Abel's sacrifice pictured Christ, the
lamb of God. Now that's the gospel that we
must preach. There's no offense in fruits
and vegetables. People, I'm telling you, they'll take anything from
a preacher. Just pounding on them. Telling
them, you're not doing this good enough. You're not doing this
good enough. No matter what you do, it's not good enough. You've
got to give more. You've got to be better. And they just take
it. They just eat it up. But you
preach the cross of Christ, now that's offensive to the natural
man. Because if you preach the cross
of Christ correctly, The cross of Christ declares the sinfulness
of man, the sin nature of man. That's offensive. The cross of
Christ, properly preached, declares the holiness of God. God must
punish sin. And the cross of Christ, properly
preached, preaches the necessity of the blood of Christ. There
is no other way to put away sin other than the blood of God's
own Son. If there was another way to redeem sinners, you can
rest assured God would have done it. But there wasn't. He killed
his son and shed his blood, because that's the only way sin can be
put away. No matter what we do, it'll never put away one sin.
That's offensive to the natural man. And the sacrifice of Christ
is the dividing line between unbelievers and believers. It
always has been and it always will be. It was so offensive
to Cain, he killed his brother for it. It was so offensive.
And to preaching. What Christ accomplished on the
cross is the dividing line between the gospel and the perversions,
the lies that are preached everywhere else in this town. Whatever else
they're preaching is a false gospel. Christ is the only difference
between heaven and hell. Now does anyone need a sacrifice
for their sin? Then you come to Christ. He's
the sacrifice that God will accept. He's accepted in the beloved.
Third, the scriptures declare that Christ died as a shelter
against the wrath of God, against sin. Look over in Genesis chapter
6. In verse 5, God saw that the wickedness
of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of
the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And it
repented the Lord that he made man on the earth, and it grieved
him at his heart. And the Lord said, I will destroy
man whom I have created from the face of the earth, both man
and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air, for
it repenteth me that I have made them. But Noah found grace in
the eyes of the Lord." Now Noah had the same nature as everybody
else. The thoughts and imaginations of Noah's heart was only evil
continually, just like everybody else's. He had the same nature.
And it's the same nature that you and I have today. Man has
not changed from the time of the flood till today. We're only
evil continually. And God determined to destroy
every man, woman and child on the face of this earth. And he
sent the flood to do it. Except Noah. Noah and his family
lived. Now, why did Noah live and everybody
else die? Well, we've just seen, it's not
because Noah was any better than anybody else. He was the same
as everybody else. Well, did Noah live because he
obeyed God and built an ark? No, sir. Our obedience does not
save us. Well, did Noah live because he
believed God and nobody else did? Nope. Our faith doesn't
save us. Because God put Noah in the ark
before the rains came and the floods came up. God put Noah
in the ark and that's the only reason he lived. That ark enabled
God to be just and justifier. That ark enabled God to be holy
but still be gracious to Noah and his family. When God's wrath
fell, his wrath fell on everyone's sin. Noah's included. The difference
is Noah lived. Because God's wrath against his
sin fell on the ark and he was spared. That flood stood on the
earth all those days. I watched a show the other day
and people trying to disprove the flood and looking on these
high mountain peaks and thinking, how did a saltwater fossil get
up here? Well, it could have been the
flood. God's flood that stood on this earth, that covered that
mountain, that put a saltwater seashell on top of that mountain,
stood on this earth as judgment against man's sin, drowning men. That flood stood on this earth
against Noah's sin too. Noah lived because the ark bore
him across the flood. That's why. That's how Christ
died, as a shelter from the wrath of God against our sin. God's
wrath. is going to fall on every sin,
without exception, because God's holy. He's not going to ignore
sin. His wrath is either going to fall on us or on Christ our
substitute. Now, if you're a sinner, you
come to Christ, hide yourself in Him. Shelter, safety from
God's wrath can only be found in Christ. Fourth, the Scriptures
declare Christ died as a substitute for his people. Look in Genesis
22. You know this story of Abraham
and Isaac. God told Abraham, you take your son, your only
son Isaac, whom you love, you take him to a mountain that I'll
show you. You offer him there as a burnt offering. Abraham
obeyed. He got up the next morning and
started walking. It took him three days to get there. In verse 10,
Abraham stretched forth his hand and took the knife to slay his
son. And the angel of the Lord called unto him out of heaven,
and said, Abraham, Abraham. And he said, Here am I. And he
said, Lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou anything
unto him. For now I know that thou fearest
God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son by an only son from me. And Abraham lifted up his eyes,
and looked, and behold, behind him a ram caught in the thicket
by his horns. And Abraham went and took the
ram, and offered him up for a burnt offering. of his son. And Abraham
called the name of that place Jehovah-Jireh, the Lord will
provide. Now that ram died as a substitute
for a specific person, Isaac. Ishmael didn't have a substitute.
Ishmael, the son of the bondwoman, was cast out. Isaac, in whom
thy seed shall be called, had a substitute. God provided it,
provided him a substitute. And that's how the scriptures
declare that the Lord Jesus Christ died. As a substitute for a specific
people. Not everybody in the whole wide
world for his elect. He is a substitute for those
that the Father gave him. John 17 verse 9. This is our
Lord's high priestly prayer. And listen to what he said. I
pray not for the world. Now how can anyone Read that
and still claim Christ died for the sins of everyone. He said,
I pray not for the world. I pray for those that thou hast
given me, for they are thine. He died for a specific people
that the Father gave to him in the covenant of grace. And our
Lord took the place of his people. That's what a substitute does.
The person that's in the game comes out. And a substitute comes
in and takes his place. And our Lord took the place of
his people. And he died the death that his
people deserve because of their sin. Now God told Abraham, you
take your son to the top of this mountain. You offer him there
as a burnt offering. Abraham got to the top of that mountain.
God's law didn't change. God's word didn't change. There
had to be death. There had to be a burnt offering
on the top of that mountain. The only reason Isaac came down
from that mountain is a substitute died in his place as a burnt
offering. Can you imagine Abraham and Isaac
standing there watching that ram burn? Those men understood
substitution. That ram dying in my place. God grant us eyes of faith to
behold him in his word. dying in my place as the sinner's
substitute. Is anyone here guilty? Not just not as good as somebody
else, I mean guilty. Do you deserve for God to put
you to death? Eternal death? Then come to Christ. The only way a sinner can come
into the presence of God and live is in the Lord Jesus Christ,
who is the sinner's substitute, who died in our place. Fifth,
the scriptures declare Christ died a public, infamous death. Look over in Numbers 21. This
thing was not done in a corner. It was done publicly so that
sinners everywhere could look to Christ and live. Numbers 21,
verse 5. And the people spake against
God and against Moses. Wherefore have you brought us
up out of Egypt, to die in the wilderness? For there is no bread,
neither is there any water, and our soul loatheth this light
bread. And the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people, and
they bit the people, and much people of Israel died. Therefore
the people came to Moses and said, We have sinned, for we
have spoken against the Lord, we are guilty, we have spoken
against the Lord and against thee. Pray unto the Lord that
he take away the serpents from us. And Moses prayed for the
people. And the Lord said unto Moses,
Make thee a fiery serpent, and set it upon a pole. And it shall
come to pass, that every one that is bitten, when he looketh
upon it, shall live. And Moses made a serpent of brass,
and put it up upon a pole. And it came to pass, that if
a serpent had bitten any man, when he beheld the serpent of
brass, he lived." Now everyone there in Israel had sinned against
God. They spoke against God and against
Moses and all the people. were bitten by these fiery serpents.
And they're laying there in the wilderness dying. And you'll
notice the Lord didn't send Moses out there as a faith healer to
heal the people. You know, to lay his hands on
the people and ask them, well now, are you sorry? And blow
on them and heal. Foolish. That's something Nabal
would do. God told Moses, you make a brazen serpent. You lift
it up on a pole. And you tell the people, look
and live. Look and live. And everyone who looked lived,
just like God said. And it doesn't surprise us when
people do what God says and it happens just the way God said
it. It's what God said and it happened. This is what the scriptures
declare about you and me. All of us have sinned and fallen
short of the glory of God. We're dead and dying, just like
Israel was in the wilderness. The soul that sinneth, it shall
die. That brazen serpent that Moses made, it was an exact replica. of those fiery serpents that
bit the people. With one exception. That grazing
serpent had no venom. No venom in it. It was solid
brass. Our Lord Jesus was born into this world of a woman. He
was born a real baby. He grew up as a boy. He grew
up into a real man. He was bone of our bone and flesh
of our flesh. He looked like a real man. He
didn't have this halo, you know, glowing around his head. That's
why people didn't think he was the Son of God. He's a man. We watched Him grow up. His father,
His mother, we know. He's just a man. He looked like
every other man with one exception. There was no sin in Him. He's
perfect, undefiled, holy. And our Lord died as that brazen
serpent lifted up on the pole for everyone to see. And all
who will look to Him will live. Look at John chapter 3. This
is what our Lord told Nicodemus. Maybe Nicodemus thought of this
when he saw our Lord lifted up. I hope he did. In John 3, verse
14, And as Moses lifted up the serpent
in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up,
that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal
life. Now, this is the gospel that
God's given us. given it to us, and we must preach
the gospel that lifts up Christ, that exalts and magnifies the
person of the Lord Jesus Christ so that sinners will look and
live. You look to him and you'll live.
Look over in Exodus chapter 12. The scriptures declare that Christ
died so that his elect would not be destroyed. Exodus 12 verse 5, here's the
instructions for the Passover land. Your lamb should be without blemish,
a male of the first year. You should take it out from the
sheep or from the goats. Now this lamb had to be a perfect
lamb to picture the sinless perfection of Christ. You take it out from
amongst the flock, that's how our Lord came, as a man. Taken
out from amongst men to be a substitute for men. It has to be perfect.
In verse 6, you should keep it up until the 14th day of the
same month. And the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel
shall kill it in the evening. The lamb had to be observed over
time to make sure it didn't have any hidden imperfections. Just
like our Lord Jesus was observed closely over his whole three
and a half years of his earthly ministry. And at the end of that
time, Pilate said three times, I find no fault in him. He's
perfect. And then our Lord was crucified while they were preparing
this very Passover feast. They shall take of the blood
and strike it on the two side posts and on the upper door posts
of the houses wherein ye shall eat it." The blood of the sacrifice
must be shed. Then the blood of the sacrifice
must be applied. That's so important. Now why
is it so important that the blood be applied? Look at verse 12.
For I will pass through the land of Egypt this night, and will
smite all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast,
And against all the gods of Israel I will execute judgment. I am
the Lord, and the blood shall be to you for a token upon the
houses where you are. And when I see the blood, I will
pass over you, and the plague shall not be upon you to destroy
you when I smite the land of Egypt." Now think about it. What would have happened if the
father had selected a lamb? He watched it for fourteen days.
It was a perfect lamb. He took that lamb in the appointed
evening. He killed that lamb. He shed his blood. He roasted
that lamb at fire. He took the lamb inside. Ate
that lamb with the bitter herbs, with the shoes on his feet, his
loins girt, his staff in his hand. He told his family, we're
leaving this place. What would have happened? His purse porn
would have died. God would have smoked his purse
porn because the blood was not on the door. When I see the blood,
I will pass over you. The blood must be applied. What was the only difference
between the Egyptian firstborn that night dying and the Israelite
in this slave home, his firstborn living? What was the difference?
The blood on the doorposts. When I see the blood, I'll pass
over you. What's the only difference between
eternal life and eternal condemnation? Just one difference. The shed
blood of Christ applied to the heart. And I've got good news. You don't have to figure out
how to apply the blood to your heart. God the Holy Spirit does
that in the New Birth. He applies the blood to the heart. If anyone here this morning had
the sentence of death hanging over your head because of your
sin, didn't come to Christ. Hide in His blood. Hide yourself
in Him and God's justice will pass over you. The Father is
satisfied with the blood of His Son. Hide yourself in His blood. The Gospel. It's the Gospel of
God. The Gospel declares the death
of Christ. The Gospel declares Christ died
for sinners. The Gospel declares He died for
our sins according to the Scriptures. Look back in our text, 1 Corinthians
15, the gospel sets forth the resurrection of Christ. See verse
4, and that he was buried and that he rose again the third
day according to the scriptures. Now you cannot preach the gospel
without declaring the resurrection of Christ. It's an utter impossibility.
It's so important. He died according to the scriptures. He is buried. He rose again the
third day. according to the scriptures, the Old Testament scriptures.
Now the obvious scripture reference here is Jonah, isn't it? But
it's not the only scripture reference that we have concerning the resurrection
of Christ. This also refers to Isaac. God
told Abraham, you take your son, you offer him for a burnt offering.
At that moment, Abraham gave his son up for dead. Three days
later, he got to the top of that mountain. He received him again
in a figure from the dead, is what Hebrews says, after three
days. He received him again as a figure
from the dead because of that substitute. But the obvious scripture
reference is to Jonah. Look at Matthew chapter 12. Our
Lord used this very illustration from the Old Testament scriptures
to declare how it is he's going to die, be buried, and raised
again. Matthew 12 verse 38. And certain of the scribes and
of the Pharisees answered, saying, Master, we receive a sign But
he answered and said unto them, An evil and adulterous generation
seeketh after a sign, and there shall no sign be given to it
but the sign of the prophet Jonah. For as Jonah was three days and
three nights in the whale's belly, so shall the Son of Man be three
days and three nights in the heart of the earth. Now when
did that great fish vomit Jonah out on dry ground? When Jonah
said, Salvation is of the Lord. Our Lord died. according to the
scriptures. He was buried according to the
scriptures. Isaiah 53, he made his grave with the wicked and
with the rich in his death. They took the dead body of our
Lord down from that cross and lay his body in the tomb of a
rich man. Joseph of Arimathea, where no man had ever laid. He
lay there dead. That body was dead for three
days. And he arose from the grave. He walked out of that tomb proclaiming
salvation is of the Lord. When our Lord arose, that salvation
that had been promised throughout all the Old Testament scriptures,
had been pictured and typed and shadowed all throughout the Old
Testament scriptures, is now complete. The great transaction
is done. Romans 4, verse 25, Christ was
delivered for our offenses and raised again for our justification.
Now, the resurrection of Christ did not obtain our justification. His death, his blood obtained
our justification. But the resurrection of Christ
did proclaim our justification. Christ never would have risen
if any of that sin that had been charged to him was still there.
He was raised from the grave because that sin was gone, declaring
we are justified in him. And the resurrection of Christ
is one of the great cornerstones of the gospel. The apostles,
about all of them, gave their lives for this truth. They were
all martyred and they all could have avoided it if they just
would have said Jesus didn't rise from the dead. But they
never would deny it. Why not? Isn't it better than
being drawn and quartered and crucified upside down and burned
at the stake? It's too important. And I'll
show you why. Verse 14, back in 1 Corinthians 15. This is so important. If Christ
be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also
vain. Yea, we are found false witness of God, because we have
testified of God, that he raised up Christ, whom he raised not
up, if so be that the dead rise not. For if the dead rise not,
then is not Christ raised. If Christ be not raised, your
faith is vain, and you are yet in your sins. If Christ remain
unto the power of death, How is he ever going to set his people
free from the power of death? If Christ be not raised, he is
still in the tomb. No sin was put away under his
blood. He may well sleep in on Sunday and go play golf, because
our preaching is vain if Christ be not raised. But, verse 20,
now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits
of them that slept. For since by man came death,
by man came also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam,
all died. Even so in Christ shall all be
made alive. The resurrection of Christ guarantees
the spiritual life of his people in the new birth. And his resurrection
also guarantees the resurrection of our bodies. He's the first
fruits. There's more to follow. All those in him are going to
follow him. Paul gives us two federal heads here, Adam and
Christ, the second Adam. And what those two federal heads
did, everyone who was in them did too. But what did Adam do? Adam sinned. He rebelled against
God and he died. And everyone who's in Adam died
spiritually when Adam died. And eventually we're going to
die physically and we'll die eternally if all we are is in
Adam. But Christ, the second federal
head, the second Adam, what did he do? He came to this earth,
he kept the law perfectly, in jot and tittle, outwardly and
inwardly, he perfectly obeyed God. And everyone who's in Christ
perfectly obeyed God. In Christ, our federal head,
everyone in Christ has been given eternal life because when Christ
died, he's our federal head. When he died, we died in him. When he was buried, we were buried
in him. And when he arose from the grave,
we arose in him. the newness of life. That's what
we picture in believer's baptism. We're saying, Christ is all my
salvation. When he died, I died in him.
When he's buried, I was buried in him. We dump that person clear
under the water. And when he arose, we arose in him. Wouldn't
it be awful to take that person and hold them under the water
forever? No. He rose and we arose in him. In Christ, our federal head.
Now, is anyone here dead in trespasses and sins, they come to Christ. 1 John 5, verse 11. This is the record. This is the
gospel that God has given to us eternal life. And this life
is in His Son. This life is in His Son. All
the gospel is in His Son. The gospel is a declaration of
our Lord Jesus Christ. I look to you. Alright. Lord
bless you.